Improvement in flour-pagkers



UNITEDl STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TsAAo oook, or srLoUrs, Mrssooar.

lMPROVEM ENT IN FLOUR-PCKERS.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent N0. 49.@59, dated September 13, 1865.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ISAAC (100K, ofthe city of St. Louis, in the county of St. ,Louis and State ofMissouri, have invented a new and usefnl Flour-Packer; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letter of referthe barrel on it is being filled.

rilhisinvention relates, secondly, to the device for pressing the flour in to the sack or'barrel, which device consists ot' two '-augers, one of which has a rotary motion only, while the other auger, which is attached to an arbor working within the hollow arbor of the first, receives a vertical as well as a rotary motion, its ofce be,- ing to descend into the lbarrel and commence packing the iiour at the bottom first, and from thence npwarthduring which process its arbor will gradually rise up through the hollow arbor of the first au ger until the barrel or other package is filled, atwhich point the'two angers will bein close proximity to each other, and they wllbo'th be simultaneously stopped by suitable automatic gearing arranged for that purpose. The rotary motion is imparted first to the arbor` of the 'upper auger, and by it transmitted to the other by means of a tongue, which tits into a vertical groove in the other arbor, so that both arbors will revolve in harmony with each other. Theoffice of the first or upper auger'is threefold in its nature, First, while it is stationary it holds the iionr above it up ont of the barrel until the other auger is lowered to the'proper place for it 'to begin packing; then, when the rotary motion of the .angers commences, it feeds the iionr through between its blades just as fast as the lower auger can properly dispose of it, and no faster; and, lastly, when the lower anger has risen nearly to the to'p ofthe barrel, and it becomes desirable or necessary to increase the weight upon it to make it press the flour more firmly,'the compressed flour between the two augerswill produce such pressure upon the lower auger, and I render unnecessary the device of a deep hopper above iilled with ionr to give weight upon the auger-a device which is in common use,

but which is both expensive and troublesome to millers. The arrangement ofthe two angers is such that the faster thelower auger packs the flour awa-y the fastery will the other auger feed down the flour to it, and vice versa.

l Thirdly, this invention relates to the friction-ways which guide thehead ot' the arhorot' the lower auger, and which are so arranged that lnoreor less friction may be applied, as may be necessary to pack the door properly in large or small barrels. v

Fourthly, the subjectmatter ot' this invention consists in connecting the mouth-piece to which the barrel iits with the hopper above by means of a tube or tubes, through which the confined air in the barrel may escape into the hopper above' without blowing the ourout between the staves of the barrel, @ther devices which have been invented for this pui'-,

pose--such, for instance, as the hollow shaft-- have proved failnres, bec-anse their critico is only open while ther'anger is descending into the barrel, after which it is closedjby the tlour, and is consequently useless.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improved packers, I will proceed to describe their construction andvoperatiom l construct a frame, A, of wood, or other suitable material, said frame consisting of two upright posts, @,which are connected together by various crossheams, the bottom ends of the` posts resting on short sills or vfoot-pieces i), to which they are securely fastened.

The platform B, on which the barrel is placed.i

to be filled, consists of a platform of boards, built on the three beams a c c, and ot' the up right posts d d, which are erected on the outer ends of the beam-c vperpendicular to its axis. The stay-rods d pass over the upper'ends of the posts d d', and' thence down in a diagonal' direction on eitherside to the ends ofthe beams o cf', into which they are fastened, and which. The dist-ance betweenthe outer sides of the posts d d is such that they serve to snpport.

they will just pass loosely between the posts@ of the frame A, which posts and the guides a form a groove in whichthe posts d d are made to slide easily up or down.

Just beneath the platform B is placed arockshaft, f, which has its bearings in the two footpieces b. l There are two cams, g gfplaced upo'n lthisshaft in such a position that when the shaft is revolved forward the long ends of the camsl will strike against'the bottom of the beam c and raise itand the platformupon it. The rock-shaft j' is operated by means ofalever, f', attached to one of its ends., and is held in position bythe toothed pawl f., attached to said lever at one end hy a pivotjoint, while the teeth of the pawl take hold on the pin fl", which is fastened on the outside of one of the posts o.

The metallic wing or mouth-piece C is fastened to the bottom side of the bottom beam of the frame A, the said beam having a circular aperture throughit ofthe same diameter as the inner diameter of the mouthfpiece. The hopper or spout D, which is on the back side of the'frame A, conveysA the iiour to the mouthpiece C. The lower end of this spout or hopper shouldbe made of 4sheet metal, and circular in forni, so that it will it nicely thc circular opening in the beam of the frame A, on which it rests., The upper end of the spout may be iliade ot' wood or any other suitable material, and may be of Vany desired or con venient form.

lWithin the lower end ofthe hopper or feedspout, and in the prolongation of the vertical axis of the mouth-piece C, is the hollow augerarbor E, wh'ich is providedwith a packing auger,E, at it'slower end, and at its upper end with a cog-wheel, c, through the medium of whichinotion is imparted to it. A shoulder near the'bottom end of this auger-arbor rests on the step E and prevents the whole from sliding downward. A tongue projectingrom the cylindrical opening in the center of this 'arbor tits into a groove in the arbor F. The

object of this arrangement is to communicatea rotary motion from the arbor E to the arborv F througlrthe medium of this tongue and groove and at the same time permit the arbor F to be moved easily up or down, for the purpose hereinafter mentioned.

-lt is to be understood that the arbor F is placed within the hollow arborE. 'lhe lower end ofthe arbor F terminates in the packingauger F' and its upper end in the friction-slide F. y The slide F its into grooves made in the edges of the guides G G for that purpose. The guide G is securely fastened to the beams of the frame A; but the guide G is not fastened to the frame A at all, but is only held in place by resting against those beams and by the iron straps H, which are V-shaped pieces of strapiron,the open ends of which are bolted to the guide G', while the closed ends of them embrace the guide G, which they overlap sutciently to receive the journal a: of the weightedl lever H. The inner or pivoted end of this lever terminates .in a` cam, asis clearl shown bythe dotted lines in Fig. l of the drawings.

1The upper edge of this lever has teeth or corv rugations upon it, into which the ring of the weight H" may be adjusted at a greater or4 lesser distance from the fulcrum w, for the pur#l pose of regulating the amount of friction which may he produced between the guides G and G and the head F. When the weight H is in thenotch nearest to the outer end of the lever it will cause'the cam end of that lever to press with 'greatest force against the guide G, and a corresponding pressure will'be exerted through the medium of thejournal w andthe straps H upon the'guide Gl to bring it toward the guidev G, and the friction upon the head F" will then be at its maximum, which friction may be gradually decreased at pleasurelbyslidin g the .weight H" toward'the fulcrum op which it rests. While the auger is engaged -in'packing the flour in the barrel the requisite amount of pressure will be placed upon it by means ot' the friction which is thus brought tobear upon the head F.

A lever, I, attached to one of theposts a,4 and connected by means of the connecting-rod' 1 with the lever H', can heused by the operi ator to raise the outer end ot' the latter lever, and so remove entirely the friction fromfthe head F when itis necessary to lower the auger F into the barrel; The lever I, being within easy access of the operator, can be used by him with great facility to let the auger. down into the barrel just as easily as he wishes to, as he may by loweringthe same with his hand increase the friction upon. the head F at any moment thatthe same may vbecome necessary;

A rope, J, fastened to the head F" ,and pass.-

in g thence over two pulleys in the timber-headv J and down alongside of the frame A, terminates in a loop within convenient reaching distance of the operator, by whom it may be employed when he wishes to raise the auger up,

it being at the time down and not in use. The drivingshaft K is located across the front of the frame A, to which it is attachedby means of the bearing-boxes L L..

The bevel cog-wheel h on the driving-shaft K gears with the cog-wheel h', to which it imparts motion, and which, in turn, transmits it to the counter spur-wheel e', which gears into the spur-wheel e, and so communicates motion to the angers. The bearingbox L is i'rinly secured to the frame A, butthe box4 L is arranged to slide up and down in its bearings on thepost a. When the box L is down to its lower limit the cog-Wheel h will be in gear with the cog-wheel h'; but when the box L' is up as far as it is arranged to go the said wheels will be disconnected, and, although the driving-shaft may continue to revolve, the packingl angers will then remain stationary.

l The lever M is pivoted to the post 'a and the b'ox L', and' its back end is provided with a weight, M', while its forward end projects in front of the box L a *fewl inches and termi.

trates in the handle M". The connecting-rod N is jointed to the lever M yforward of the post a, from which point of connection it extends downward a few .inches-say eight, more or lessand then terminates in a hand-piece,`

while the upper end of the rod extends upward to the top of the frame A, and, passing through av staple0, terminates in a shouldered end, the shoulder fitting ,under the top' beam of the frame A when the box L' is pressed down, so that the wheels h and h are in gear. A spring, w, presses the rod N toward the frame, so as to keep the shoulder under the beam.

The leverP, hinged to the guide G at i, is so arranged that when the head F" arrives at its highest point it will throw the outer end lof said lever forward, and thereby push the shoulder of the rod N from under the beam and allow the weight M' to act upon the bearingfbox L', so as to raise it up and throw the wheels h.

and h.' out of gear, thus making the machine automatically stop itself at the proper moment, ,the whole of the devices for doing which are precisely similar to those described in the patent allowed to myself for the same purpose on the 26th day ot' April, A. D. 1864, and are consequently not claimed in this application.

To prevent the confined air in the barrel from blowing out between the vstaves, I connect the mouth-piece C with the upper part of the hopper or spout l) by means oi' one or more tubes, R, through which the said coniined air may pass out of the barrel. v Q- Having described myinvention, what Iclaim 1s l. The platform B, the rock-shaftf, the cams g g, the lever f', the toothed pawl f", and the `ary guide G and the adjustable guide` G', for

the purpose of producing the requisite amount of pressure on the auger E" ,the guide G' be ing fdrawn toward the guide G with more or less force, as may -be desired, by means ot' the weighted lever H', as recited.

IsAAc 000K.

Witnesses M. RANDOLPH, A. WAGNER. 

